Dawg,
This translation of the Heart of Awareness is now available on the web:
http://www.swcp.com/~robicks/gita00.htm
It is short and "poetic".
13 Happiness
Even if you have nothing, 1
It is hard to find that contentment
Which comes from renunciation.
I accept nothing.
I reject nothing.
And I am happy.
The body trembles, 2
The tongue falters,
The mind is weary.
Forsaking them all,
I pursue my purpose happily.
Knowing I do nothing, 3
I do whatever comes my way,
And I am happy.
Bound to his body, 4
The seeker insists on striving
Or on sitting still.
But I no longer suppose
The body is mine,
Or is not mine.
And I am happy.
Sleeping, sitting, walking, 5
Nothing good or bad befalls me.
I sleep, I sit, I walk,
And I am happy.
Struggling or at rest, 6
Nothing is won or lost.
I have forsaken the joy of winning
And the sorrow of losing.
And I am happy.
For pleasures come and go. 7
How often I have watched their inconstancy!
But I have forsaken good and bad,
And now I am happy.
Also Huang Po's Zen teachings on the Tranmission of Mind is on the net.
Ch'an Masters: Huang Po
The Master said to me: All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. This Mind, which is without beginning, is unborn and indestructible. It is not green nor yellow, and has neither form nor appearance. It does not belong to the categories of things which exist or do not exist, nor can it be thought of in terms of new or old. It is neither long nor short, big nor small, for it transcends all limits, measure, names, traces and comparisons. It is that which you see before you - begin to reason about it and you at once fall into error. It is like the boundless void which cannot be fathomed or measured. The One Mind alone is the Buddha, and there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient things, but that sentient beings are attached to forms and so seek externally for Buddhahood. By their very seeking they lose it, for that is using the Buddha to seek for the Buddha and using mind to grasp Mind. Even though they do their utmost for a full aeon, they will not be able to attain it. They do not know that, if they put a stop to conceptual thought and forget their anxiety, the Buddha will appear before them, for this Mind is the Buddha and the Buddha is all living beings. It is not the less for being manifested in ordinary beings, nor is it greater for being manifest in the Buddhas.
School comes first while you are taking classes. I don't know whether to be amazed or appalled at the number of your extraciricular activities!
lfen